"I would, but it seems that last time you went wondering you took away all the toys from Theron’s little army and they are still sore about it.”
Talyn glares at Logan over his shoulder.
I consider protesting again but the truth is that I’m not sure I can walk just now. Not without face planting into the dirt. Instead, I focus on filling the others in on the details while I still remember them. The summoning voice I’d heard in my head, the pull to the clearing, the questioning. By the time we reach the edge of the main clearing, Logan’s rage is palpable and Talyn… Talyn has his face schooled into a mask I cannot read.
“You’re safe now,” Logan murmurs against my neck. “No one touches you. Not again.”
An important claim from a kidnapper,my mind supplies in answer but there is little heat behind the thought. Maybe because exhaustion is now seeping into every part of my body or because Logan sounds like he genuinely believes his own impossible promise. “Where is Kai?” I say instead, ensuring my voice is loud enough to be heard by the sentries.
“He and Prince Kyrian are flying with the draken patrol,” Talyn says tersely.
“They are on their way back,” Logan adds. “Nyx told their draken what happened.”
Right. Because draken and their riders have fireside chats. My head rests against Logan’s shoulder, his warmth grounding me as the power inside me slowly dwindles from a storm to a simmer and the cold starts to sip into my bones. The weight of what I’d just done—and what it might mean—is finally startingto crush down on me as well. Not that the crushing brings any answers with it.
“This is a nightmare.” Talyn stops beside three dead bodies in ceremonial robes, his silver eyes moving from one corpse to the next. The soldiers have laid them out in a line, unveiling their faces. Talyn’s lips work silently for a moment before he speaks, his voice heavy with regret.
"I know these fae.” Talyn crouches down to close the eyes of a large male who I’m pretty sure was one of the strong arms holding my head underwater. "Xaelen. He and his mate served under my father for three decades until some humans shot an auric steel arrow into her. She begged Xaelen to put her out of her misery at the end. And Mira..." Talyn crouches beside a female whose hood has fallen away to reveal delicate features. "She lost two cubs to auric steel poisoning last winter." He straightens slowly and glowers. “Warriors who've bled for Flurry, who've sacrificed everything for our people, had to die tonight. And for what?" His hand gestures toward me dismissively. "To protect the architect of their children's suffering. It’s a travesty.”
“They died because you have a cabal of Dark Wolves roving around your ranks that you knew nothing about,” the venom in Logan’s voice is palpable. “Led by one of your top captains.”
“How far did that magic of hers extend?” Talyn asks. “Is our entire army without steel?”
Everyone’s attention turns to me and I swallow. I have no idea. I’ve never done this before. Not even close. Didn’t even know this was possible.
“Why don’t you go check,” says Logan and tilts his head, as if he’s talking to someone else. Probably the owner of the huge shadow that’s flowing over us. I dare a glance up and see the shimmer of wings above the canopy of trees. Logan condescendsa glance back at Talyn. “And while you are at it, have Rowan’s tent brought over to the draken fields. We are done here.”
"Now look here—” Talyn starts, but something in Logan’s face makes him change his tone mid-word. "Prince Theron's accommodations are perfectly?—"
"- compromised," Logan shifts his grip on me. “Those were his people—hiscaptain—attacking knee deep in illicit magic. Rowan isn’t stepping a foot back in your camp until Prince Kai himself says so.”
He walks off with me without waiting for an answer, only snarling softly when Reece falls in step beside us. The blood on his face has dried to dark crimson streaks and he limps as he walks.
“That was more magic than I’ve seen anyone—and I mean any immortal—use at once,” Reece says.
“Fascinating.” Logan gives Reece the kind of look usually reserved for excrement. “When I want to know more about your vast experience, I’ll be sure to let you know.”
“Stop.” I put a hand on Logan’s shoulder, the one that he is keeping stiff despite trying to give an appearance of full health. “Him healing you is probably the only reason I’m still alive.”
“You turned steel to sand,” Reece says. “You’d have been fine. Though I do wonder why Logan’s draken left him to die. Perhaps the draken finally realized the kind of male he’s bonded and wants out.”
An angry screech sounds from the sky.
“Rut off,” Logan tells Reece. “Or don’t. Nyx is hungry and you look crunchy.”
Reece opens his mouth, then glances to the sky and turns. “You are going to be exhausted," he tells me over his shoulder before walking off, his gaze brushing over me with concern. “That’s normal. But if it’s worse than just that, if you get a fever,you need a healer. The amount of magic you used—it could have burned you out.”
“What’s with you two?” I ask once Reece is out of earshot.
Logan says nothing for a few heartbeats, his attention seemingly consumed with picking his way through the trail. Now that we are alone, I feel his body relax slightly. Just when I think I’d do better to let the question go, Logan finally speaks. “Wolf shifters live in packs, with a kind of hierarchy that makes the Spire’s convention seem like children’s games. I’m what’s called a stray omega—a wolf without any pack at all. A shamed outcast.”
“Or a pack of one.” I nuzzle his shoulder, taking in Logan’s familiar woodsy scent.
“That’s not how it works, rabbit.” Logan’s voice is quiet. “I had a pack once. But we were weak, so we were prey. A stronger pack caught and culled us. I was too small to fight but instead of culling me with the others, their alpha kept me alive.”
“As a kindness?” I ask, though I have a feeling I know the answer.
Moonlight sharpens the angles of his face, the tension in his body bleeding into mine. “As a warning to the others. “A breathing symbol of my pack's failure, existing solely to showcase the consequences of weakness.“
